Ursula Burns
| Ursula Burns | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
September 20, 1958 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
New York University Columbia University |
| Occupation | Chairman of Xerox |
| Salary | US$18.7 million (2014) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Lloyd Bean |
Ursula M. Burns (born September 20, 1958) serves as Chairman (since May 2010) of Xerox and was the CEO of the company from July 2009 to December 2016. As such, she was the first black-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. She is also the first woman to succeed another woman as head of a Fortune 500 company, having succeeded Anne Mulcahy as CEO of Xerox. In 2014, Forbes rated her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world.
Burns was raised by a single mother in the Baruch Houses, a New York city housing project. Both of her parents were Panamanian immigrants. She attended Cathedral High School (New York City), a Catholic all-girls school on East 56th Street in New York. She went on to obtain a bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering from New York University Tandon School of Engineering (then Brooklyn Polytechnic) in 1980 and a master of science in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University a year later.
In 1980, Burns first worked for Xerox as a summer intern, permanently joining a year later, in 1981, after completing her master's degree. She worked in various roles in product development and planning in the remainder of the 1980s throughout her 20s.
In January 1990, her career took an unexpected turn when Wayland Hicks, then a senior executive, offered Burns a job as his executive assistant. She accepted and worked for him for roughly nine months when she was ready to go back home because she was about to be married to Lloyd Bean. In June 1991, she became executive assistant to then chairman and chief executive Paul Allaire. In 1999, she was named vice president for global manufacturing.
In May 2000, Burns was named senior vice president of corporate strategic services and began working closely with soon to be CEO Anne Mulcahy, in what both women have described as a true partnership. Two years later, Burns became president of business group operations. Then in 2007, Burns assumed the role of president of Xerox. In July 2009, she was named CEO, succeeding Mulcahy, who remained as chairman until May 2010.
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